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Media Contacts
![The sun sets behind the ORNL Visitor Center in this aerial photo from April 2023. Credit: Kase Clapp/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-10/sunset_visitor-center_0.png?h=10d202d3&itok=jLImPT0R)
In fiscal year 2023 — Oct. 1–Sept. 30, 2023 — Oak Ridge National Laboratory was awarded more than $8 million in technology maturation funding through the Department of Energy’s Technology Commercialization Fund, or TCF.
![Mickey Wade](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2023-03/2022-P03120.jpg?h=8f9cfe54&itok=w-IR0uZ1)
Mickey Wade has been named associate laboratory director for the Fusion and Fission Energy and Science Directorate at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, effective April 1.
![Ilias Belharouak, Grace Burke and Phil Snyder represent ORNL’s strengths in battery technology, materials science and fusion energy research.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-12/22-G04341_Corporate-Fellows-photos.jpg?h=e91a75a9&itok=skT1h7xu)
Three researchers at ORNL have been named ORNL Corporate Fellows in recognition of significant career accomplishments and continued leadership in their scientific fields.
![This diagram demonstrates how a concentrating solar thermal plant could use molten salts to store solar energy that could later be used to generate electricity. Credit: Jaimee Janiga/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-09/2022-G02085_Mcfarlane_ReducingSaltsCorrosiveEffect_STFIG_7nj_ForReview_Equipment%20v2_txt_0.jpg?h=995a696e&itok=bT3iWSgL)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists recently demonstrated a low-temperature, safe route to purifying molten chloride salts that minimizes their ability to corrode metals. This method could make the salts useful for storing energy generated from the sun’s heat.
![ORNL fusion technology scientist Tim Bigelow, right, stands near the control console in ORNL’s fusion control room with Matt Houde of Quaise Energy. Their partnership aims to tackle technical challenges with the Millimeter Wave Drilling System that Quaise has developed. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-09/fusion-thumb.jpg?h=06ac0d8c&itok=QDFJEG_G)
Researchers in the geothermal energy industry are joining forces with fusion experts at ORNL to repurpose gyrotron technology, a tool used in fusion. Gyrotrons produce high-powered microwaves to heat up fusion plasmas.
![ORNL physicist Libby Johnson demonstrated a new control panel at ORNL’s Bulk Shielding Facility in 1957. Among the first females to operate a nuclear reactor, Johnson blazed trails for women. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-09/Johnson_1.jpg?h=06ac0d8c&itok=JUg5qoxV)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory physicist Elizabeth “Libby” Johnson (1921-1996), one of the world’s first nuclear reactor operators, standardized the field of criticality safety with peers from ORNL and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
![A team of fusion scientists and engineers stand in front of ORNL’s Helium Flow Loop device. From back left to front right: Chris Crawford, Fayaz Rasheed, Joy Fan, Michael Morrow, Charles Kessel, Adam Carroll, and Cody Wiggins. Not pictured: Dennis Youchison and Monica Gehrig. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL.](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-05/2022-P01898.jpg?h=c6980913&itok=SoSOip2u)
To achieve practical energy from fusion, extreme heat from the fusion system “blanket” component must be extracted safely and efficiently. ORNL fusion experts are exploring how tiny 3D-printed obstacles placed inside the narrow pipes of a custom-made cooling system could be a solution for removing heat from the blanket.
![High voltage power lines carry electricity generated by the Tennessee Valley Authority to ORNL. Credit: Dobie Gillispie/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2022-02/Powerlines_resized.jpg?h=c74750f6&itok=33NqDqGh)
ORNL and the Tennessee Valley Authority, or TVA, are joining forces to advance decarbonization technologies from discovery through deployment through a new memorandum of understanding, or MOU.
![Larry Baylor, left, and Andrew Lupini have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-10/APSfellows.jpg?h=e91a75a9&itok=rDVqiCkQ)
ORNL's Larry Baylor and Andrew Lupini have been elected fellows of the American Physical Society.
![The first central solenoid module arrived at the ITER site in St. Paul-lez-Durance, France on Sept. 9. Credit: ITER Organization](/sites/default/files/styles/list_page_thumbnail/public/2021-09/central_solenoid_module_1_0.jpeg?h=0a638d1e&itok=j9UFi53Z)
Staff at Oak Ridge National Laboratory organized transport for a powerful component that is critical to the world’s largest experiment, the international ITER project.